Tropical storms develop over warm water so usually form in the late summer when sea temperatures are at their highest. This was the case with Hurricane Harvey, which developed at the end of August when conditions were ideal. The hurricane reached the coast of Texas on 25 August 2017 with winds of 130 mph, but as it reached land the winds dropped and it was downgraded to a tropical storm.
Most storms move away quickly, but Harvey became wedged by two highpressure areas which essentially prevented it from moving and resulted in heavy rain lasting several days. Over 1,300 mm of rain fell in the course of 4 days, which is as much rain as Houston might expect in a year, and the most rainfall ever from a single storm in continental USA. Meteorologists even had to use a new colour on their weather charts.
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